Mac SE boot question

Question

Mac SE boot question

Hi,

I recently picked up a Mac SE M5011 computer with mouse and keyboard. Everything on the system seems to work great except I cannot get it to load the System Software. When I boot from the System 6.0.8 installation disk and attempt to install the system software, the install button is greyed out. The Switch Disk button is also greyed out.

I read somewhere that Apple HD SC utility can be ran to attempt to detect hard disks, but that does not appear to be on my system disk. 😟 There is also no icon for the hard drive on my desktop. Are these telltale signs that the hard drive in this mac is damaged? The hard drive does appear to be powering as I am getting a blinking amber light from what I am guessing is the Hard drive bay (it's above the floppy drive)

If the drive is toast, what are my options for replacing it?

any help is much appreciated!! 🙂

Mac SE-OTHER

Posted on Feb 21, 2012 9:49 PM

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Answer 1

kaz-k

Level 8

49,062 points

Feb 22, 2012 3:00 AM in response to GrillChill2286

As far as I remember, Apple HD SC utility is only able to format Apple-OEMed drives(hard disks that featured Apple ROMs), so you'd better get third-party formatter, if your hard disk is not apple one.

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Answer 2

Feb 22, 2012 6:50 AM in response to GrillChill2286

Unless you actually hear the drive spinning up - based on your description, it sounds like the drive isn't overcoming "stiction" to start spinning, or maybe there isn't a hard drive in there at all. You can fix the first problem with disassembly of the SE case, removing the hard drive, and rotating it sharply along the axis of the platters with your hands. Hard to describe in words, but you want to make the platters in the drive rotate a little off of the place they've been sitting in for years on end. This might get the drive up and running right now, but it will continue to suffer from this problem from now on.

There is a hacked version of the Apple HD SC utility that will format non-OEM drives, but it's not necessarily easy to find or easy to get into a form from online all the way to your SE. The drive itself is normally a half-height, 3.5" SCSI drive. Small (< 100MB) SCSI drives seem to be appreciating in value/cost, maybe because there is a dwindling supply, and they all suffer the same fate eventually. Auction sites will typically have them for sale at various times - if you bide your time, you might land a reasonable deal on one.

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Answer 3

Mar 9, 2012 1:54 PM in response to GrillChill2286

In the very early days computers were delivered just with a floppy drive. You can download the Apple HD SC Utility from here http://www.darnok.org/projects/mac/ You need also the Apple HD SC patches file. IMPORTANT: The files are in HQX format so you can download with any computer and transfer it by ftp (with "fetch 2.0" for your mac) to your oldmac without troubles. Unpack e.g. with stuffit expander both files on your SE and run the patcher to modify the original Apple hd sc util to formal any HDDs. My Classic2 runs with wit 2GB drive (one partition). Have fun!

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